Salem Film Fest viewers might remember Director Eliza Kubarska's film WALKING UNDER WATER, which played at the festival in 2015 and followed the Badjao people, sea nomads diving and hunting fish in the deep waters off Borneo.
In her new film, THE WALL OF SHADOWS, a Nepalese Sherpa family breaks a cultural taboo by taking part in a Himalayan expedition to the holy mountain of Kumbhakarna to earn money for their son’s education and his dream of becoming a doctor.
Making its US Premiere at Salem Film Fest, THE WALL OF SHADOWS was named the winner of the American Cinematographer Magazine Award for Cinematography, with Editor-in-Chief Stephen Pizzello writing "The Wall of Shadows artfully exploits the region’s natural light, following the sun, and makes the viewer feel like a full participant in the journey. Much of the story is told through the family’s facial expressions or fraught glances, but the wider scenic vistas reveal the intimidating scope of the challenge they face; a sense of foreboding prevails as shots play out over music by the Budapest Art Orchestra".
SFF Program Director Jeff Schmidt caught up with Kubarska to discuss her own experience as a climber and to learn more about her film.
photo courtesy of David Kaszlikowski/verticalvision.pl
Jeff Schmidt: You're a climber of more than 25 years, how difficult was it to film in the weather conditions of THE WALL OF SHADOWS? Everyone looked pretty cold!
Eliza Kubarska: We visited Nepal 3 times. The most difficult was the last trip for filming. Our film crew spent 3 weeks on the glacier, at an altitude of 5000m, living in tents. The conditions were very difficult. The expedition began at the end of February. From the very beginning, we had a lot of snowfall. Apart from me and the extreme-cameraman Keith Partridge, no one on the film crew was a climber and, of course, working in such conditions was a challenge for the team.
JS: It was interesting to get a glimpse of a Sherpa family and their family dynamics and interactions in your film, as often in climbing films you don't get a sense of their personal lives. Can you tell us a little more about the family?
EK: It was my dream to tell the story from the point of view of the Sherpas. The symbiosis between Nepalese highlanders and climbers has been going on for about 100 years, and yet there are not many stories from their perspective. Most stories focus on the heroic feats of the himalaista, but without the support of the local people (Sherpa, Rai, Limbu in Nepal or Balti in Karakorum) most of the expeditions could not have taken place. That is why I decided to tell this story differently. The Sherpas (followers of Tibetan Buddhism) see mountains as a kingdom of deities. Most climbers see the highest mountains more as a trophy. These differences in perceiving the mountains (and the world) are very important plot of my film. Tale from the point of view of mountaineers, would look completely different, of course.
When I met Nagda and Jomdoe, they were very warm and open to me from the very beginning. I realized very quickly that marriages had to argue for one reason only: the future of their youngest son, Dawa. When I told them what was the idea for the film (the story from their point of view), they were happy. Nagda is the only Sherpa climbing from the village who still lives here. And like other Sherpas, he is not satisfied with the conditions in which he works.
JS: I understand you are raising money to help pay for Dawa's education. How is that going and how can our viewers support?
EK: When you work on a film for several years, there are moments of doubt. Working on a documentary is always difficult, collecting a budget takes years, the situation is changing dynamically, nothing is certain. You wonder what you are doing this for. If you finally manage to make a good film - it is a great joy and success. But if you also manage to change the life of one of your protagonists for the better - then I think it was worth it!
